A rotary engine of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,591. This patent describes the principal components of such an engine including the housing, vanes, concentric shafts to which the vanes are attached, control means to restrict rotation of the vanes to one direction, converter means to convert the somewhat promiscuous motions of the vanes into unidirectional rotation of an output shaft, and means to start the engine. A key feature of the engine is the uninhibited movement of its vanes as they undergo relative rotation.
Whereas the engine of this patent provides many constructional and operational advantages as compared to prior art engines of this type, it fails to fully take into account the importance of the momentum of the vanes with the result that the engine may fail to give reproducible results from one cycle to the next.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to correct the deficiencies of existing rotary engine designs by providing means to ensure steady state operation under optimum or ideal working conditions.
A further object of the present invention is to provide control over the compression ratio and to be able to adjust it within certain limitations.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and the following description.